Family Bank system to launch first in quake-hit areas

GAZİANTEP

The Family and Youth Bank project, established to support young people in education, marriage and employment, will initially be implemented in the region affected by the Feb. 6 earthquakes in Türkiye’s south, Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş has announced.

"Our youth in Nurdağı [in the quake-hit southern province of Gaziantep] will hopefully be the first beneficiaries of the Family and Youth Bank. The proposal for our Family and Youth Bank has been sent to the parliament. We will soon put it into practice, ensuring that our local youth benefit from it," Göktaş told press members during a visit to the Nurdağı district on Nov. 6.

The minister stressed that the project will be available to young people aged 18-27 with income levels below a certain threshold.

Göktaş expressed her hope that the project will pass through the parliament and become operational before the new year, emphasizing that one of the project's key components is to provide interest-free credit to young people taking their first steps toward starting a family.

Providing information on the efforts in Gaziantep after the earthquake, Göktaş stated that nearly 2,000 people, both from her ministry and various non-governmental organizations, worked in the field to meet and support the various needs of earthquake victims, especially in terms of psychosocial support.